The brother of al-Qaeda's leader has been acquitted of terrorism charges by an Egyptian court, overturning a 14-year-old death penalty case. So, can we drone-zap them now? Mohamed al-Zawahiri was part of a group convicted in 1998 for planning attacks and belonging to an extremist group.
He is the brother of Ayman al-Zawahiri, who ascended to the number one position in the terrorist group, al-Qaeda, after Osama bin Laden was assassinated last year by US forces in Pakistan.
Mohamed al-Islamboli - whose brother, Khalid, was behind the assassination of former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in 1981 - was also acquitted of charges related to the same case.
Al-Zawahiri had been held in detention in Egypt, but al-Islamboli has lived in exile for more than 20 years, only arriving in Egypt following the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak last year.
During Mubarak's rule, it was not uncommon for Islamists to be found guilty of collecting money for Islamist groups and "funding terrorism".
[An Nahar] Libya's interim authorities now control all ports of entry to the country's third city of Misrata, a government official said on Sunday.
"All the ports were handed over," including the airport, said Ziyad Abdelali of the interior ministry.
The local council of Misrata, which was elected last month, said in a statement that the city handed over control of the airport and the seaport along with its land checkpoints to the central authorities.
Brigades of former rebels had kept a tight grip on these strategic sites since the end of last year's conflict that ousted Muammar Qadaffy's ...a reminder that a single man with an idea can change an entire nation, usually for the worse... regime.
Abdelali said negotiations were still under way for the handover of the airport in the capital Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... which remains under the control of a Zintan brigade.
"It is a matter of time," he said.
On February 21, the interior ministry gave militias a two-week deadline to hand over to the authorities control of all of the North African country's land, sea and air frontiers.
Government front man Nasser al-Manaa said on March 14 that former rebels had agreed to transfer control of the airports and border points to the authorities.
Several militias remain bunkered in Tripoli, much to the dismay of residents who periodically stage rallies calling for their disarmament and departure.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2012 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] A twenty-member team of activists who visited last week the governorate of Hajja has cautioned against the deteriorations of human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. conditions, pointing out that the number of displaced persons constantly increases.
In a presser held on Thursday in Sana'a, members of the team said Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates.... fighters were surrounding some farms and blocking a main road linking between districts of Mastaba and Kashar of Hajja.
They said the prices of foodstuff highly raised between 50-70 per cent owing to sieges imposed by the Houthi fighters in some areas.
The team said that about 94 persons were killed and 154 were maimed by the Houthis, pointing out that 2750 persons lost their jobs as a result of the fighting.
Local sources say that about 15,00 left their homes as a result of the interment conflicts erupted several months ago between the Houthi group and tribes of Hajja.
According to the activists, the locals of the Hajja appealed to the government to urgently intervene and put an end to their tragedies and suffers.
They affirmed that the government completely absent in these areas, pointing out that the ceasefire lately reached between the Houthis and tribes of Hajja is fragile.
The activists said that about nine schools and 20 mosques were shut down by the Houthis as they refused to use slogans of the Houthis.
The Houthi group whose main slogan is "God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews." accused the tribes of fighting a proxy war with America and Israel.
Prominent local human rights organizations such Hood, Seyaj, the Yemeni Observatory for Human Rights, and other organizations and activists took part in this mission.
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03/19/2012 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] The Military Commission tasked to remove armed manifestations resumed on Saturday its activities in Sana'a, calling all sides of conflict to commit to instructions of the commission.
According to the Yemeni News Agency, the commission that was formed under the GCC-mediated power transfer deal embarked on its tasks in An-Nahdha and Sofan of Sana'a.
It further removed sand bags, trenches from streets and checkpoints set up since protests began in February 2011 against the former President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh's . ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... According to Saba, the commission presided by President Abdo-Rabo Mansour Hadi determined a plan to compeletely carry out its agenda aiming at removing all armed manifestations and evacuating streets and neighborhoods of gunnies.
The commission assigned to end the violence and restore peace to Yemen after months of unrest approved formed field teams to open the road linking between Bait Dehrah of Sana'a governorate and Mbarib as well as other roads, the agency said.
Spokesman of the military commission Ali Saeed Obaid affirmed that the commission will continue its tasks until returning the capital to normality.
The commission will also aims to reconstruct the military and security services which are still divided between those pro-revolution divisions and those divisions that are run relatives of the former President-for-Life Saleh ... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence... Hundreds of officers and soldiers have been protesting for months, demanding to sack commander of the Air Forces, Mohammad Saleh Al-Ahmar, half-brother of the former President Saleh.
High-ranking officials had lost their positions as a result of what is called the revolution of institutions that has hit many public authorities and resulted in the ouster of tens of corrupt officials.
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03/19/2012 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Following foreign media reports that former ISI chief Asad Durrani has told a Pakistain court of the Pak intelligence agency paying Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... Rs 50 million, the BNP yesterday claimed to have a copy of Durrani's statement, which "does not contain Khaleda's name".
Talking to news hounds at the party headquarters in the capital, BNP's acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said, "I have the affidavit copy with the full list of those who were named by Durrani. It does not contain names of any individuals outside Pakistain."
He also alleged that an Indian journalist had spread the "rumour that was not even covered by any Pakistain newspaper".
The BNP leader, however, did not specify the time when the statement was made. Durrani has made more than one statement in the court in a petition that alleges ISI rigged the 1990 general elections in Pakistain. The latest came on Wednesday, according to reports.
A March 14 report in Pak newspaper The Express Tribune says the statement Durrani made in 1999 is still a classified document.
According to media reports, names of the BNP and its chief cropped up during hearing on the petition over ISI's funding for politicians both "within and outside Pakistain". The intelligence agency had allegedly given the money to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party for the 1991 parliamentary polls.
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[Bangla Daily Star]The trial of the much-talked-about August 21 grenade attack case is set to begin on March 28, as a Dhaka court yesterday framed charges against 30 accused in the supplementary charge sheet of the killing case.
The newly indicted include former prime minister Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... 's elder son Tarique Rahman ...the elder son of former President of Bangladesh Ziaur Rahman Bir Uttam, and Khaleda Zia, former Prime Minister of Bangladesh. He is the Senior Vice Chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). His nickname is Pino. There are allegations that Pino took a rakeoff from every foreign investment into the country while Mom was in office... , her nephew Saiful Islam Duke, the then state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar, four other BNP leaders and a Jamaat leader.
Among others, three are former IGPs, two ex-NSI officials, three former CID officials, two ex-senior police officials, and three former high-ranking officials of the army and the navy.
The 13 high-ups were in service when the grenade attack was made on an Awami League rally at Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital on August 21, 2004. Twenty-four AL leaders and workers were killed and 300 others were maimed in the attack.
The gruesome attack was aimed at assassinating Awami League President Sheikh Hasina, then leader of the opposition.
North Korea has invited the International Atomic Energy Agency to return, three years after expelling its nuclear monitors, the agency said Monday. The U.S. said such a move would be welcome but remained critical of the North's missile test plans.
Without disclosing the North's terms, IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor said it received the invitation on Friday. That was the same day that Pyongyang announced it plans to test a missile by launching a satellite, a move that Washington has suggested could jeopardize a nuclear moratorium deal reached with the United States last month.
IAEA's announcement of the overture from the North came just hours after Ri Yong Ho, a senior North Korean nuclear negotiator, said Pyongyang was sending invitations to agency inspectors as part of implementing the moratorium agreement.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Washington had not been told of a formal invitation to the IAEA from the North — but said such a move would be positive, while repeating America's reservations about the planned satellite launch.
#1
See also TOPIX > NORTH KOREA BANKING ON MISSLE LAUNCH TO BRING IN BIG BUCKS. US to surrender to the DPRK on new, more massive Aid???
* SAME > CHINA GENUINELY ANGRY OVER NORTH KOREA'S LATEST LAUNCH THREAT.
Possible but I highly doubt it, as the DPRK is China's vassal, ward, + ally. Considering the levels of China's influence, local Security presence inside the DPRK, + how massive bilateral Sino-DPRK trade is, ITS HARD TO BELIEVE THAT NORTH KOREA COULD'VE DEV A SPACE PROG, i.e. "A BIG ROCKET THINGY", WIDOUT CHINA'S TECHNICAL HELP OR CONSENT.
China has said that the DPRK + Korean Peninsula is in its "Strategic/Core Interests" - it may allow the DPRK local autonomy on certain matters, but IMO the "independent" dev of a large, reliable Space Rocket, aka any potential Weaponized/Nuclearized IRBM or ICBM that could be used agz Beijing or Other, would NOT be one of them???
* SAME > SOUTH KOREA SAYS NORTH [covertly]WANTS [Space]ROCKET FOR NUCLEAR WEAPON. Civilian-Space Test Platform for future LR Nuke Missle.
OTHER = A Rocket/Missle that can reach California.
Despite China's concerns, a senior North Korean nuclear negotiator reiterated his government's position on a planned long-range rocket launch after holding talks Monday with his counterpart in Beijing.
Ri Yong Ho said the launch of the satellite is separate from recent talks with the United States and North Korea over food aid. The United States promised the aid in exchange for a suspension of North Korea's nuclear programs and has warned that the launch could jeopardize that agreement.
"The launching of the satellite is part to our right to develop space programs," Ri said outside a government guesthouse in Beijing. He warned that the North would respond to any threats on its sovereignty.
"Regarding the peaceful purpose of the satellite launching, if others are practicing double standards or inappropriately interfere with our sovereign rights, we will be forced to react to it. But we will try our best for these things not to happen," he said.
The U.S., Japan, Britain and others have urged North Korea to cancel the planned launch, calling it a threat to diplomatic efforts and warning that it would violate a U.N. ban on nuclear and missile activity because the same rocket technology can be used for long-range missiles.
#2
"We're looking at the possibility of opening up 10 percent more of the monument to the public," said chief ranger Vandzura. "My gut feeling is that (smuggling) traffic is consistent or maybe at a slight downward angle."
How about establishing a bounty and let professional hunters take care of the problem?
#1
Despite many people interpreting this as nefarious, the bottom line is that it was examined and found to be little more than a revision of previous orders, with just administrative changes.
#2
Yes, released on Friday, a simple update, admin changes, and revisions. No need for concern. Everyone reports to whom again? Mention of the Congress? The States? Gold and silver buyers, see Sec 306.
Jan 4, 2012 ... “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” Those were the words of former Obama
administration Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel
#4
Except you miss the forest for the tree. The whole business of EOs to get around Constitutional limitations of power has been going on for most of the 20th Century. All those inconvenient processes of amending the base document have been avoided, much like various judicial decrees that 'interpret'.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/19/2012 9:33 Comments ||
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#6
Procopius2k: EO's are only part of the problem of an increasingly "imperial presidency" that has been growing in fits and starts since George Washington violated the constitution to put down the Whiskey Rebellion. He also created the dictation of presidential proclamations, usually over small things. Lincoln used that for his Emancipation Proclamation, however, and they have become useful tools to seize state lands, grant pardons to criminals, and other dubious practices.
Other milestones of presidential power grabs include:
Marbury v. Madison (1810), when the president refused to obey the ruling of the SCOTUS.
Andrew Jackson, with his nullification crisis, the Indian Removal Act, and his specie circular.
Abraham Lincoln, who really covered the gamut of presidential power grabs. He also started the use of major Executive Orders, that before had just been minor administrative directives to particular agencies.
Teddy Roosevelt, who effectively took defense appropriations away from congress by blackmail by sending the US Navy on a world tour, halfway around the world. Then the money ran out.
Woodrow Wilson, who nationalized the railroads for the use of every petty bureaucrat who wanted his own rail car. He also created the concept of executive branch "Czars".
"Ol' Frank" Roosevelt, who outdid Lincoln in seizing powers.
With Harry S. Truman began the practice of the widespread use of presidential memorandum (previously called presidential letters), which are one below EO's in authority), and presidential (national security) directives. He also directly authorized the creation of the NSA, which was only funded the following year by congress on a perpetual black budget.
Dwight Eisenhower was the first real Cold War president, and the first to go overboard with internal security and apocalyptic damage preparation. But this has been embraced by every president since.
Though created by James Monroe (1825), the presidential signing statement only became deeply controversial for multiple constitutional violations under Ronald Reagan. These have become perhaps the worst offense, in that they take power both from congress and the judiciary.
I skipped a whole bunch in there. But until some Republican president is elected who is willing to work with congress and the SCOTUS to *reduce* the power of the office of the presidency, it is likely that this situation is going to get progressively worse.
#8
I know one was also signed by Clinton and Bush and whatever, just this particular POTUS really does not adhere to the law and he will use any means to get what he wants.
[Bangla Daily Star] A recent hearing on a petition against an illegal disbursement of money to politicians and individuals brings to light the dirty role of Pakistain's controversial spy agency ISI.
The petition was filed by Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan against money doling up to anti-Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... politicians in 1990 allegedly from the establishment through the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
It came up for hearing before the Pakistain Supreme Court on February 29. The case was, however, adjourned because of the absence of certain key witnesses, the Dubai-based Khaleej Times reported in its issue of March 3.
The chief justice said notices must be issued to former ISI chief Gen Asad Durrani and former chief of Mehran Bank Younus Habib to appear before the court at the next hearing on March 8.
The report based on earlier court statements says Durrani, by his own admission, had directly delivered the money to politicians and groups as ordered by the "boss" -- the then army chief Gen Mirza Aslam Beg.
In turn, Gen Beg had named the "chief executive" (former president Ghulam Ishaq Khan) for "supervising the entire exercise", the newspaper writes.
"Its sinister purpose was to defeat the Pakistain People's Party (PPP) under Benazir Bhutto in the 1990 elections. A total of Rs 140 million was disbursed after Mehran Bank illegally advanced it to the ISI account."
The events combined, in which millions of Pak rupees were paid to politicians and political parties using the spy agency, is widely known as the Mehran bank scandal, also Mehrangate.
"Another Rs 50 million was allegedly paid to Bangladesh's Khalida Zia to help her in polls against Hasina Wajid's Awami League generally perceived by Pakistain's security establishment as pro-India," the Khaleej Times adds.
The exact text of any court statement of the ex-spy boss was not available and The Daily Star could not verify whether BNP chief Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... had received money from the ISI.
However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... the Pak media elaborately wrote about Pak politicians and professionals who received ISI money.
Durrani in his testimony gave details of amounts given to each leader.
The Pak news service, News Online, said former DG ISI Asad Durrani in an affidavit submitted before the apex court recently admitted to having disbursed money to Mian Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... (Rs 3.5 million), Lt General Rafaqat, who was head of ex-president Ghulam Ishaq Khan's election cell (Rs5.6 million), late Mir Afzal Khan (Rs 10 million), ex-PM late Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi (Rs5 million), late Jam Sadiq Ali (Rs 5 million), late ex-PM Mohammed Khan Junejo (Rs 2.5 million), late Pir Pagaro (Rs 2 million), lawyer Abdul Hafeez Pirzada (Rs 3 million), ex-governor Sindh Yusuf Haroon (Rs 5 million) which he confirmed having received for Altaf Hussain of the MQM, Muzaffar Hussain Shah (Rs0.3 million), Syeda Abida Hussain (Rs 1 million), Humayun Marri (Rs 5.4 million) and Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... (Rs 5 million), among other individuals and groups.
Most of these individuals and political parties have denied receiving any money from the ISI. "No, no! Certainly not!"
On March 8, Mehran Bank chief Younus Habib made a statement before the Supreme Court, saying he was forced by former president late Ghulam Ishaq Khan and former army chief Aslam Beg to arrange Rs 340 million in the "supreme national interest", the leading Pak daily Dawn reports.
According to Habib's statement, Rs 140 million was paid through Gen Aslam Beg to politicians -- Rs 70m to former Sindh chief minister Jam Sadiq Ali who was provided another Rs 150m (from Mehran Bank's funds) for arranging licence to set up Mehran Bank, Rs 15m to Pir Pagaro through Jam Sadiq, Rs 70m to Younus Memon on the instructions of Ishaq Khan and Gen Beg for the politicians who wished not to receive the money directly from the ISI. Some of the money was also dished out to the Army Welfare Trust.
Also on March 8, in his latest statement submitted before the apex court, Durrani said he had used the Military Intelligence (MI) for the disbursement of the money deposited by Younus Habib, according to The News International, Pakistain.
In his original affidavit of 1994, Durrani had revealed, "In September 1990 as DG ISI, I received instructions from the then COAS General Mirza Aslam Beg to provide 'logistic support' to the disbursement of donations made by some businessmen of Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... to the election campaign of IJI [Islami Jamhoori Ittehad]. I was told that the operation had the blessings of the government."
Now after 18 years of his initial affidavit, Durrani in his two-page statement submitted before the apex court on March 8, said, "Mr Yunus Habib did deposit Rs 140 million in various branches in the accounts opened, on my orders..."
The Supreme Court bench had taken up the 1996 petition of Tehrik-e-Istiqlal chief Asghar Khan accusing the ISI of financing several politicians during the 1990 elections to create the IJI and prevent Benazir Bhutto's PPP from winning.
On March 8, two sealed documents, one comprising a report by a commission tasked to review the working of security and intelligence agencies, were opened in court.
The other document contained two audio-cassettes and unsigned statements/cross-examination of Maj-Gen (retd) Naseerullah Babar and Lt-Gen (retd) Asad Durrani recorded during an in-camera session of the court.
A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez accepted Younus Habib's sworn handwritten statement that he read loudly in open court.
Younus Habib said Gen Beg and ISI's Brigadier Hamid Saeed had provided a number of certain accounts in certain banks for depositing the amount while the counterfoil of the deposit slip had been handed over to one Colonel Akbar.
Both Gen Beg and Asad Durrani were in court, quietly listening to Habib's affidavit, the Dawn reports.
"In all I was asked to arrange Rs 350 million by the former president and the army chief before the 1990 general elections," said Habib while reading out the affidavit.
Habib said he had told them that arranging such a huge amount was not possible through legal means for which he had to manipulate the system. At this, Ishaq Khan told him that he would have to do whatever he could for the "national cause".
Habib submitted a photograph, along with his affidavit, in which he is seen with former president Ishaq Khan and a uniformed army officer having conversation with Gen Beg. The court made the photograph part of the record.
The March 3 report of Khaleej Times says the ISI brought together various conservative and religious parties and groups under the banner of IJI to collectively face the PPP. It effectively checked the Benazir tide in 1988, denying her an absolute majority.
Former ISI chief Gen Hamid Gul The nutty former head of Pakistain's ISI, now Godfather to Mullah Omar's Talibs and good buddy and consultant to al-Qaeda's high command... unabashedly takes credit for fathering the IJI in 1988 to stem Benazir's tide. "She would have swept the polls," he once admitted.
A weak coalition under Benazir became an easy prey for Ishaq Khan to be sent home packing within less than two years. The 1990s saw similarly fragile arrangements alternating after every two years and being dispensed with by the president in collaboration with the army chief.
Democracy was thus not allowed to take firm roots and was given a bad name for incompetence and corruption.
#2
The only reason you can say that Pakistan has a government is the fact that the President, Prime Minister, Parliment, Military, and ISI have offices in the same city.
Pakistan is a collection of places, people, and government agencies that no one else wanted. India was smart to give the Moslems their own patch of dirt, can you imagine trying to govern with these people on the loose?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
03/19/2012 14:36 Comments ||
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[Dawn] Severe differences erupted in the district chapter of Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) after former director general of Intelligence Bureau Massod Sharif Khattak, who joined the party recently, announced names of candidates for a National Assembly and two provincial assembly seats in Karak, sources said.
They said that PTI district president Advocate Altaf Qadir and his cabinet members were annoyed with Masood Sharif. The district leadership of the party remained unaware about the public meetings and other political activities of Masood Sharif, they added.
Sources said that the rift divided PTI into two groups in the district. One of the groups was led by the district president and his cabinet while the other backed the former director general of Intelligence Bureau.
Sources added that the differences reached to its peak the other day when Masood Sharif said announced himself as candidate for National Assembly seat and former MNA Shamsur Rehman and Saleem Khan for two seats of provincial assembly in the district. The district organization of the party termed the nomination unconstitutional.
The PTI district organization has said that parliamentary board of the party would decide about awarding tickets to candidates for the next general elections as Masood Sharif has no authority to nominate someone for the elections.
Sources said that district organization of the party was backed by provincial leadership. The district organization was making preparations to name its own candidates for next elections, they added.
According to insiders, Masood Sharif has created unrest among the old workers of PTI as he is bypassing them and is running the party affairs according to his own will.
Sources said that the district organization tried its level best to persuade Masood Sharif to hold public meetings and carry out other political activities with consent of district cabinet of the party but to no avail.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2012 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The memo commission was approached from an unliklely quarter on Saturday when the wife of Kashmiri leader Yasin Malik ...chairman of one of the two factions of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front. JKLF is a Kashmiri nationalist organization founded in Birmingham, UK in 1977. Branches weren't actually established in Kashmir for another ten years. It has the usual demands for separation of J&K from secular India so it can become an independent Islamic rathole. It seems to have no interest in Pak Kashmir breaking away to join it. In 1994 Malik renounced violence after he was released from jail and from that point he and his organization pursued peaceful means to impose their will on the area... submitted an application to become a party in the case.
Mushaal Malik said an allegation levelled by Mansoor Ijaz, the American businessman, that he had arranged a meeting between her husband and C. D. Sahay, a former Indian intelligence chief, had damaged his reputation.
Mr Ijaz, on his part, once again jolted the proceedings of the commission investigating the origin, authenticity and purpose of the controversial memorandum as he accused President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... of giving the go-ahead to the US president for the May 2 raid in Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... without consulting the Army and the ISI.
In her petition, Yasin Malik's wife requested the commission to provide her husband an opportunity to explain his position. She said since Mr Malik was at present in Srinagar, he could appear before the commission next month.
At this point, Mr Ijaz's counsel, contrary to the stance taken by him earlier in the day, suggested to the commission to delete the portion of the testimony related to Mr Malik from the record.
He said acceptance of the application would open a new Pandora's box because the commission would have to summon the former Indian intelligence chief and a news hound of a foreign newspaper as well.
Advocate Bokhari requested the commission to accept the plea. "Since Mr Malik claims having some evidence against Mr Ijaz, he will be useful for the inquiry." The commission deferred the matter till Sunday.
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[Dawn] Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... said on Sunday that Pakistain has not sought any apology from the United States on the Salalah post incident but is seeking new directions in relations with America on key issues. How about hostile isolation?
Speaking to the media at his residence on Sunday, the prime minister said the Parliament will debate ties with America on Monday with input from key stakeholders before the new rules of engagement and proposals are settled.
The relations between the countries touched a new low following the killing of 24 Pak soldiers, by US troops, on their border post in the restive tribal region in November last year.
"We want the full support of Parliament on this issue, which will also deal with Pakistain's ties with NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... and ISAF as the two organizations combine a total of 48 countries," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Iraq moved on Sunday to diversify its oil export routes to reduce the impact of a potential closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran on Storied Baghdad's ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... oil-dependent income, as well as the world economy.
The plans, recommended by the cabinet's energy and economics committees, include efforts to ramp up exports along a pipeline to Turkey, increase the amount of oil transported by road, and "urgently" fix disused transport pipelines, according to a statement from government front man Ali al-Dabbagh.
He said Iraq's cabinet on Sunday adopted the recommendations which also included working to reopen the Banias-Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... pipeline that runs from Syria to Leb but has been closed since 1990, and, if thawing Iraq-Saudi relations continue to improve, a disused pipeline through Soddy Arabia as well.
The committees "also recommended that in the short term there be more efforts to convince the Iranian and American sides of the necessity of avoiding the closure of the Strait of Hormuz because it will damage the global economy, and Gulf countries especially."
Iran has threatened retaliation for fresh Western sanctions over its nuclear program, including a possible disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a Gulf chokepoint for global oil shipments, including 80 percent of Iraq's oil exports.
Dabbagh told Agence La Belle France Presse in an interview last month that Iraq was worried by U.S.-Iran tensions and would be one of the worst countries affected if the strait were closed to shipments of crude oil.
Planning Minister Ali Yusuf al-Shukri also said last month that Iraq was mulling its options in case Iran blocks the vital waterway.
Iraq currently produces more than three million barrels per day (bpd), with exports averaging about 2.1 to 2.2 million bpd. Crude sales account for the lion's share of Storied Baghdad's government income.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Iran is repor mulling more major cutbacks in its international oil exports in response to the SWIFT action.
IIRC SWEDEN = has formally determined that the proposed TAPI Pipeline is not only too costly but also NOT VIABLE. I may be wrong but I believe I read that China has already backed out of financing same for simil reasons???
Despite saber-rattling from Jerusalem, Israeli officials now agree with the U.S. assessment that Tehran has not yet decided on the actual construction of a nuclear bomb, according to senior Israeli government and defense figures.
Even so, there is great concern in Israel about leaving Iran "on the cusp" of a bomb - explaining why Israel continues to hint at a military attack on Iran's nuclear installations before it moves enough of them underground to protect them from Israel's bombs.
Israel's leaders have been charging in no uncertain terms for years that Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons. Though officials say they accept the more nuanced American view, they warn that it is just a matter of semantics, because an Iran on the verge of being able to build a bomb would still be a danger.
The United States is playing up its assessment that Iran has not made its final decision in a public campaign to persuade Israel to call off any attack plan and allow the increasingly harsh sanctions against Iran time to persuade Tehran to back down.
#5
That mugger approaching me with a Glock in his right hand and a clip in his left hand, does not appear to have made an affirmative decision to mug me. Phew!
Posted by: Peter Carroll ||
03/19/2012 15:40 Comments ||
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#6
Lest we fergit, AFAIK there is still no formal or final verification or disverification that Iran received a number of black market Nukes + other WMDS after the collapse of the USSR back in the 1990's.
The nuke threat from Iran stems notsomuch from a Nuke-armed per se but ultimately the proliferation of military-oriented Nuke, Advanced WMD Techs to covert Militant-Terror Groups + their Regional, International Networks = NGOS/TANGOS, ala so-called "Unilateral/
Asymmetric Warfare".
THE MAHA-RUSHIAN HISTOIRE' OF THE ANTI-ISRAELI ARAB-MUSLIM STRUGGLE DURING THE COLD WAR + AFTER INDICS THAT THESE DANGEROUS TECHS WILL END UP IN THE HANDS OF ASSORTED MILTERR GROUPS, NETWORKS REGRADLESS IFF IRAN DEVS NUCWEAPS OR NOT.
We've seen it countless times already - a Terror Incident(s) occurs, + the US-West find out that the One or Few MilTerr Groups whom formally claimed responsibility for the acts received mucho covert support + assistance in carrying out the attacks from many other MilTerr Groups, affiliated, "autonomous", "independent" or other, whom did not claim formal responsibility for same, NOR INTEND TO.
* POST-USSR BLACK MARKET NUKES-WMDS ASIDE, "JAPAN/EGYPT" MODEL = IRAN WILL EITHER DEV THE PROFICIENCIES + ECONOMIES TO QUICKLY PRODUCE NUCWEAPS IN TIMES OF "CRISIS", BUT "OFFICIALLY" WON'T; OR ELSE IRAN WILL HIDE ITS DEV + STORAGE OF NUCWEAPS, BUT ONCE AGAIN "OFFICIALLY" DENY IT HAS ANY.
As far as IRAN [+ Aligned] is concerned, the US + Israel started a major ME war because they unilater threatened + attacked a sovereign foreign country Iran that "officially" doesn't have NucWeaps, nor ever E-V-A-R! intended to dev any.
[An Nahar] Technical experts from the U.N. and Organization of Islamic Cooperation are in Syria on a mission to assess the humanitarian impact of its year-long bloodshed, a senior OIC official said on Sunday.
"The joint OIC-U.N. mission entered Syria on Friday to carry out an evaluation of humanitarian aid," on a mission led by the Syrian government, its assistant secretary general, Atta al-Mannan Bakhit, told Agence La Belle France Presse.
He said the mission, with three OIC experts in the team, would cover 15 cities, after which a report would be submitted to the Saudi-based Islamic grouping and the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... on the humanitarian needs of the Syrian population.
The duration of the mission to devastated protest hubs was unclear.
U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos, who held talks in Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... earlier this month, has said the experts would join the assessment mission to Daraa, Homs, Hama, Tartus, Latakia, Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... , Deir Ezzor and rural zones around Damascus.
The U.N. experts and staff of the 57-member OIC would "accompany the mission and take the opportunity to gather information on the overall humanitarian situation and observe first-hand the conditions in various towns and cities," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The Abdullah Azzam Brigades denied on Saturday that it has any links to the takfir ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... i network in the Ein el-Hellhole Paleostinian refugee camp, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.
It denied all links to the network in a statement that was published on various websites.
It revealed however that it had received an offer by undisclosed sides to "assassinate Druze leader MP Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... in return for the release of a number of jihadists in Syrian jails."
No further details were offered.
The army intelligence bureau in the South demanded the Paleostinian factions and the Islamic parties in Ein el-Hellhole Paleostinian refugee camp to detain Abu Mohammed Toufiq Taha and hand him over to the Lebanese judiciary, As Safir newspaper reported on Friday.
Abu Mohammed is the head of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, who is accused of planning attacks against the Lebanese army.
He resides in the Ein el-Hellhole Paleostinian refugee camp near the southern city of Sidon but his whereabouts are unknown.
The Lebanese army had discovered a "takfiri" network in which two soldiers, allegedly involved in the cell, had planned to carry out attacks against the army.
The army jugged a group that consists of six people, who are affiliated with the Abdullah Azzam Brigades -- al-Qaeda network, as the army is seeking to arrest the head of the network.
On Friday, the army intelligence succeeded in arresting Mohammed Fayyad Ismail, the chief of the gang that had kidnapped a manager of the dairy company Liban Lait in the Bekaa town of Britel on November 30, which was also behind several other kidnappings.
"Army intelligence agents placed in long-term storage Ismail and some members of his gang in the Bekaa town of al-Qasr," MTV reported.
The gang is based in the Hermel District town of al-Qasr and was responsible for the abduction of a Syrian businessman in the Bekaa town of Barelias in August 2011.
Ismail and his gang have also been found to be responsible for the attack against the army on April 13, 2009.
The attack left four soldiers dead and a fifth severely maimed.
Liban Lait manager Ahmed Zeidan was kidnapped on November 30, 2011 as he entered the company's headquarters in the Baalbek District town of Hawsh Sneid.
The kidnappers demanded a ransom back then, but the army managed in December to rescue Zeidan in a raid on Britel's barren mountains.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2012 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The Military Commission tasked to remove armed manifestations resumed on Saturday its activities in Sana'a, calling all sides of conflict to commit to instructions of the commission. 
Khaleda Zia
[Bangla Daily Star] A recent hearing on a petition against an illegal disbursement of money to politicians and individuals brings to light the dirty role of Pakistain's controversial spy agency ISI.
Nawaz Sharif
Hamid Gul
[Dawn] Severe differences erupted in the district chapter of Pakistain 
chairman of one of the two factions of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front. JKLF is a Kashmiri nationalist organization founded in Birmingham, UK in 1977. Branches weren't actually established in Kashmir for another ten years. It has the usual demands for separation of J&K from secular India so it can become an independent Islamic rathole. It seems to have no interest in Pak Kashmir breaking away to join it. In 1994 Malik renounced violence after he was released from jail and from that point he and his organization pursued peaceful means to impose their will on the area...
Asif Ali 
[Dawn] Prime Minister Syed 
Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling...
